Summit League play begins in Fargo

With the pre-conference tournament season in the books, the South Dakota State volleyball team looks to start anew this weekend when they open Summit League play on Saturday at North Dakota State.

The Jackrabbits and Bison, who enter the conference season with an 0-12 mark, start at 7 p.m.

SDSU enters league play with a 2-10 mark after dropping all three matches last weekend at the UTEP/New Mexico State Invitational. The Jacks opened on Friday morning with a 3-0 loss to Hampton in El Paso, Texas, and then dropped a 3-0 contest later that night at UTEP.

Saturday saw the Jacks play one match at New Mexico State in Las Cruces, N.M., but also saw another 3-0 loss for the Jacks to the host Aggies.

THE JACKRABBIT EXTRA ON GoJacks.com – Subscribers to the Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com can watch all SDSU home matches and select road matches streaming live on the internet.

To subscribe to the Jackrabbit Extra, log onto GoJacks.com and click on “LIVE EVENTS” and follow the instructions to sign up.

THE JACKRABBIT INSIDER ON KELOLAND-TV – Fans of South Dakota State Athletics can get a weekly behind-the-scenes look at all 21 Jackrabbit varsity sports teams by tuning into "The Jackrabbit Insider.”

Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the show airs on Sundays on MyUTV at 10:30 p.m., followed by broadcasts on Sunday at 11 p.m. on KELOLAND-TV and on Fox Sports North on Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

FOWLER CLIMBS CAREER SET ASSISTS CHARTS – Senior setter Lexi Fowler started her senior season ranked ninth all-time at SDSU with 1,897 career set assists, but moved up one spot to eighth, and enters the weekend with 2,183 for her career, 364 shy of passing Melia Iwamoto (2,546 set assists from 2007-08) for seventh on the all-time list.

FOWLER RECORDS A TRIPLE-DOUBLE – Senior setter Lexi Fowler posted her first-career triple-double in a 3-2 win at Drake on Sept. 7, with 12 kills, 48 set assists and 14 digs. Fowler becomes the first Jackrabbit to score a triple-double since Amy Anderson accomplished the feat in a 3-0 win over Western Illinois at The Summit League Championships on Nov. 16, 2007, when she finished with 11 kills, 10 digs and 10 total blocks.

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT

North Dakota State Bison (0-12, 0-0 Summit) – The struggling Bison begin Summit League play with an 0-12 record after closing the pre-conference schedule with a trio of losses over the weekend at the Kansas Invitational.

The Bison opened the weekend with a 3-0 loss to the host Jayhawks on Friday, followed by a 3-1 loss to Notre Dame and a 3-0 loss to Georgia on Saturday.

The Series vs. North Dakota State – The Bison lead the all-time series with South Dakota State by a 66-19 margin, with wins in nine of the last 11 matches, dating back to the 2007 season. The two SDSU wins in that span came in a pair 3-1 wins on Nov. 6, 2010, and on Sept. 16, 2012, both in Frost Arena.

The Last Meeting: Nov. 9, 2012; Fargo, N.D. – The South Dakota State volleyball team needed a win at North Dakota State to secure a spot in The Summit League Tournament, but a 3-1 loss in Fargo put those hopes in jeopardy.

The Jackrabbits, who end the regular season with a 16-13 record overall and an even 8-8 mark in The Summit League, now needed both Oakland and South Dakota to lose on Saturday to secure the final spot in the tournament.

The defending Summit League champion Bison, who won by the set scores of 24-26, 25-22, 27-25 and 25-21, finish their season with a 12-16 record overall and the same 8-8 mark in league play.

Kelli Fiegen returned to the Jackrabbit lineup after missing the last three matches with an injury to lead the Jacks with 16 kills in the loss. Kaitlin Klingemann and Bailey Philippot both finished with 12 kills. Klingemann also added six block assists.

Lexi Fowler posted 25 assists and 11 digs for her team-high 11th double-double of the season.

Megan Lambertson and Jenni Fassbender both finished with 18 kills to lead the Bison. Lambertson added six total blocks, one solo and five block assists, in the win.

NEXT UP FOR THE JACKRABBITS – SDSU hits the road for one final non-conference contest on Tuesday at Northern Iowa at 6 p.m., and then returns home to open the home schedule on Hobo Day Weekend, starting with Denver on Friday, followed by a Hobo Day contest against South Dakota on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.